JULY 2009.

JULY 2009

THIS MONTH IN THE GIDDY FAMILY
SUZANNE LEAVES BARBARA'S SCHOOL
HEAVY RAIN FALLS AND LASHING WIND PLAY HAVOC WITH THE SCHOOL AND OUR BACK YARD
BUSHMANS RIVER WITH CHARLES AND INGRID
ADRIENNE WILSON IS IN ROME FOR FINA DIVING JUDGING
DAVE GASNER DESCRIBES DOING OTTER TRAIL MANY YEARS AGO.
I DO THE CLOVER 10KAY HELPERS RUN AND THE ACTUAL RACE AS WELL.
PETER WHATLEY (ACHILLES RUNNER) WRITES FROM DOHA
BACK ON THE BIKE, CYCLING WITH RON



Suddenly the half way mark of 2009 has past. We are now in July and heading downwards to the end of this decade. This past period has been an amazing time for South African Sport. We hosted and did reasonably well as a Soccer Team in the FIFA Confederation Cup. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstanding and due to lack of confidence, PE was not a host venue for this tournament. Brazil were ultimate winners but the Bafana team did us proud. Bafana Bafana were placed fourth behind Spain, USA and Brazil.

We have been playing Super 14 Rugby where the Blue Bulls from Pretoria (Tshwane) were placed first. The Sharks, Lions and Stormers played up to standard and we were not let down by any means. Then came the British Lions. We have been treated to some stunning Rugby over the past few weeks including a match in PE which the EP team did reasonably well. The two Springbok Matches have also turned out to be really exciting matches going down to the final few minutes before victory was given to the Boks.

The Alpha Course in which I have been leading a group ended on Wednesday 1.07.2009 and has been a real success. The group that I was fortunate enough to lead was a really special and wonderful group. We formed some real friendships and have agreed to continue for now including a meeting on Tuesday next week at Moira and Reg Haupt.

This week we played bridge with Charles and Ingrid. Ally had a Party at a friend and we used the time between dropping and collecting her to visit Charles and play some bridge. We have not played the game for ages except for Barbara who has become quite hooked on Computer Bridge. I am sure that she is honing her skills on the computer.

We will remember the last week of June 2009 for the cold spell with lashing high winds and heavy rainfalls. Our back yard was flooded as the Street Drain became blocked and this has an overflow effect on the drain which flows from our bathroom. Barbara's school also felt the effect of the heavy rainfall and was rained out. Fortunately school holidays started and Barbara only had a few days of having to mop up.

Barbara's school will go through a new phase: She has cut back to just one class. Suzanne was to be retrenched at the end of 2009 but has decided to make the break now and resigned. Barbara will run the school on her own with the two assistants. She will operate with one instead of two classes and will change the days of school to four days Monday to Thursday.

Ally started the school holidays with a Hockey Clinic. It was three days of coaching which we hope will improve her ability and skills on the field.

Friday 3.07.2009.
Cathy's Birthday.

We arranged a "Hike Discussion meeting" at our house this evening. Fred Kohler, Gerald and Pat Scheepers and Hannes Zeelie were there to talk about the Mountain Zebra hike next week. Fred has a problem that he has to be back early on Monday. The rest of us will leave on Saturday morning early to try to be at Cradock by 08.00am.

Saturday morning:
I have started running (walking) again this week.This morning we ran from Mill Park to the William Moffet and then down the third avenue dip and then back home via Linkside. This route is about 10kay. In our group was Susan Burri, Andrew Barton, Adrienne Wilson, Suzanne Gendall, Gerald and myself. We ran at an easy pace and I was able to stay with this friendly group. I thought about Sunday morning when I knew that I would be on my own at Bushmans and how I love the company and chit chat that goes with a run of this nature.

After the run I spent a little time at work, collected a Hockey stick from Brian Bands for Joshua and then did a "tip run" off loading some of the sticks and branches that our gardener, Kevin, has been cutting away. I purchased a good looking fillet steak from the Spar and then headed home to load up for our weekend at Bushmans.

We dropped Ally off at the Zeelies and drove through to Bushmans River Mouth where we were to stay with Charles and Ingrid. Once there we took a walk to the local pub where we ordered a couple of Quarts, Savanahs and a plate of slap chips. Adquately armed we settled down to watch the final in a series of three internationals against the British Lions. We had already won the first two matches.

As we sat down I recognised Carol-Anne Cash who does the promotions, amoungst other things, for the Achilles marathon and the Lake Farm 27Kay. Her husband, Niel Bissiker, does the radio sports commentary for Algoa FM. I also met up with Theo Van Wyk, who was at High School with me at St Andrews. He recognised me even though we had last seen each other about 40 years ago.

It was a great afternoon sitting and chatting in this little country pub. We lost the rugby but that did not matter to me too much as I had enjoyed the outing. We strolled back to the camp site and started the braai. We grilled the Fillet to perfection. Ingrid had brought some bottled salads which complemented the meat. After supper and a few more beverages we started an evening of Bridge. We all played better that we had done the previous time.

Bridge is a card game that requires a fair amount of concentration. As the evening progressed so did the red wine and the sherry and the quality of bridge playing began to deteriorate. It was about 10pm when we all turned in for the night.

Sunday 5.07.2009.
I started the day off with a Walk / Run up to the Build-it and Bakery in the industrial area. This is only about a 7 or 8 kay run. I never enjoy being on my own as I don't go as far or as fast as when I am in a group. But this morning I loved the solitude as I watched a Heron jump off a Power Line perch. This National bird of SA glided and looked so absolutely peaceful and content that I could not help but feel the same way. As I turned back I was treated to as beautiful a sunrise as I will ever see. The morning sun slowly crept up over the Eastern Horizon and became a fire ball as it struggled to make an impact though the morning mist and cloud.

Back at the camp site I had a shower. I love this shower as it is just short of being outdoors and gives me a sense of freedom as I washed off the braai smoke and residue of the mornings excersise. The monkeys were all over the shack and chased away the birds (Cape White eye, Cape Weaver, Heuglins Robin and Southern Boubou) feeding on the cheese and tomato that Charles had put out for them.

This morning we loaded up packed sandwiches, coffee and some warm jerseys into Charles' bakkie and drove down to the Bushmans River where we launched the boat. Charles took us far up river, past the game lodge (Amakhala). We did not spot any game until we were on our way back. We saw a few buck which I later identified as Grey Rhebok. (horns on males only, narrow vertical spikes, ears tall & narrow, brownsih grey, underparts white in small herds). We stopped for a sandwich. Ian jumped out of the boat and into a deep mud bath. The rest of us decided to stay in the boat for our breakfast. As we were sitting there we heard the distinct sound of the Fish Eagle. And sure enough there was a bird above us.

We had seen a few African Goshawk, African Pied Wagtail (which could have been the blacksmith plover except that they were is groups of more than two and plovers are normally in pairs), Egyptian Goose, Oyster Catcher, a Pelican, plenty of Comorant as they raced in front of our boat, what I think was a tern diving and catching a fish and a Redbilled Hornbill. As we were boating back we saw a small group looking uphill. They had spotted a Fish Eagle on a branch. This magnificent bird had something in its beak and was enjoying a morning snack.

Ian steered us home. This had been a really relaxing morning but Barbara & I had to leave and drove home to collect Ally.

This had been a stunning break for us. Charles, Ingrid and Ian had a few more days there.

This week went quickly with a visit to Kingwilliamstown, a stay over at the Red Valley B & B in Komga and a visit to Butterworth. Wednesday and Thursday I was up early for a run/walk with the group. Friday I had the day off and used the day to pack and ready our kit for the Mountain Zebra hike. Ally had Holiday Club. For a full report on the Mountain Zebra Hike see separate blog.

Monday the 13th: I was supposed to be in Jhb for a FS GM meeting and had missed some "customer Care" training in PE and had also missed a visit by Barry Dell in PE. While all of this was going on I was in Cradock completing the hike.

Tuesday 14th: Back to work. I was supposed to meet Gerald for a run this morning but still felt a bit stiff from the hike.

Wednesday 15th: Back on the road this morning. Cold: Adelle said she read 3Degrees in her car. None of the 'Slowies' to run with this morning. Others (Nicky Roote, Elmarie, {just back from Knysna half} etc) who used to be at the back are now part of the front group (John, Tim, Adelle etc)and me who used to be part of the front group is now at the back. Ah Well: "Ce le vie".

ADRIENNE WILSON:
Here is an email I received from Adrienne Wilson who is in Rome for FINA Diving Competition Judging.

Hello dear running friends, You think I am lucky being here, well I think you are lucky enjoying your weather. It is unbelievably hot here, and our pool is out doors. We are not allowed to put umbrellas up because of TV coverage so we are going to look like dried up prunes when we all return home.

The venue is big and beautiful with blue life size posters of all the different disciplines. The pictures are like statues, and yes the men in the pictures do have cossies on, unlike the statues all around Rome.

I arrived only yesterday, but have already taken the tube to explore. I met up with a few of the diving officials who have arrived, and we went to a quaint little place to try their pasta. I note the wine is cheaper than the water, and a coke goes for about R30 so I guess I will have to stick to wine!!.

Today was the Fina congress where I was the SA delegate - that meant I had to behave myself and have lunch with Sam Ramsamy and talk small talk.

The other judges will start arriving later tonight. There are only 5 of the 17 judges that were at Olympics and the last world championships, all the judges are new. It is great being an old girl on the block. I must say though, we never get over our nerves and our butterflies are already beginning. Tonight the initiation starts for the new ones. I am sharing with Hannah from Prague. Lovely girl, and in my mind the prettiest, sexiest etc etc - and no she will not lead me astray!!, I think I will be in bed way before her at night.

Our technical and judges meetings start tomorrow. We also write another judges exam. The days are going to be really full now. Diving starts on Friday at 9.30 in the morning, and some nights we only get home at 9,00. The mens 1m competition is scheduled for four and half hours because of the competitors. They are going to have to roll the judges, because we cannot be expected to sit out in the sun for that length of time.


Saturday night will be the opening ceremony. I am not too sure if I will be able to send any pictures, because I am using the business center to type to you.
Saying goodbye to Jen, Dani & Mat yesterday was horrible. They are going to be so spoilt. Poor Dani has a mouth full of ulcers and is a little run down. I have just spoken to Jen on the phone and they have just finished a round of golf, and are now going to Ice Age 3.

Running is going to take a back seat because our hotel is right in the center of town with tiny little streets and lots of traffic. There is a gym in the hotel but it is small and we have to queue to get the bikes or treadmill. The uniforms that we have been issued are great, but we are going to be so hot in it. Finals we will be in full pants, long shirt, and blazers, and during the day it will be long pants and T shirts.

Take care, just sending a little note to say I miss you all and wish you could share this experience with me. Sending lots of love from Rome Adrienne

Here is an interesting story from Dave Gassner who I met when doing the Amatola 100kay run with Tim Gendall. He is a real tough athlete who loves extreme sport and pushes the limits.

Dave wrote this email in response to an invitation to hike the Otter Trail with us in June 2010.

Hello Peter,

Hope you are well, thanks for the mail. We won't be joining you but thanks for the invite, I doubt you will battle to fill the spaces. I have done the Otter 5 times now, last in 2006, I really enjoy the hike and have even run it, back in 1981. A friend of mine and I were holidaying along the Garden Route and turned up at Storms River. We stayed in the hiker's huts at the mouth (long gone now, fancy log cabins have replaced them) and discovered the trail.

When we asked to go on it we were told that we have to book through Pretoria but we could start the trail if there were hikers who did not pitch. After a few days there were some no shows and we had to wait one day later until 09:00 to be sure thay didn't arrive late.

We bought some cokes, bully beef and baked beans, packed a small army canvas rucksack between the two of us, rolled our sleeping bags around our belts and at about 10:00 off we went. We had to cover two days the first day but we were going so well we just kept going and stopped at the last hut as it was getting dark and we had no idea how far we had to go.

There were very plain huts then, just a one room affair, no bunks and just enough space for 12 to sleep on the floor, as the hike was full we slept outside. The next morning we quickly got to Natures valley and hitched back to the start. In 1981 the route was not even well marked or well worn and we took wrong turns a few times, mainly on the local fishermen's paths.

Watch out for crows, the buggers know how to open the zippers on back packs and they can unpack your food !!!!!! They did it to us at Blaauwkrantz and at Blue Bay.

Keep well.

Fond regards.

Dave
16 July 2009.

CLOVER HELPERS RUN
Saturday 18.07.2009.
This morning I did the Clover 10kay helpers run with Gerald. See separate Blog.
While running a number of cyclists greeted me and this made me even more determined to haul out my Bicycle, clean it up and pump the tyres. I did this on Saturday afternoon and then on Sunday I drove down to Summerstrand where I met up with Ron. The two of us did about an hour of slow cycling around the Summerstrand suburbs and in the University.

This was exactly what I needed to regain some confidence and to get going with cycling again. It was really good to spend the time with Ron, chatting and enjoying the winter afternoon sun as we rode side by side. There was almost no traffic and this gave us the opportunity we needed to enjoy a mild cycle.

I am looking forward to getting more of this kind of excersize as we become fitter and stronger with some regular training even if it is just once a week. This afternoon Michael and Lene came over to play some bridge. I prepared a very mild Chicken Curry. They have only recently learned the rules of Bridge and already Lene in particular has become quite skilled at the game.

Michael is off to JHB this afternoon where he is joining up with the Furn City (Ellerines) people for a week of intense training before he takes over in the Pier 14 shop. I am also off to Jhb on Monday as we have the Annual Launch over the next two days. It is the first such affair for Financial Services. I purchased a new black shirt for this function.

During this week I first went off to Jhb for these meetings and then on Wednesday morning I drove through to EL for Branch Visits. I was able to catch up on some of the shops that I had never been to including Idutywa (now Dutywa).

Friday morning I had a run / walk with Gerald and Saturday morning I did the Clover 10kay event. The more I think about it the more content I am that I am still able to take part in these events. Not that I am at all competitive anymore. But it is such a pleasure and joy to be able to meet up with all of the local runners, to run the whole distance without stopping and to finish feeling totally satisfied with life.

TRI NATIONS
This afternoon was the first of the 2009 TriNations Rugby matches. Barbara and I had a relaxed afternoon in the sun reading and watching an episode of Shield. We are now into Series 3. We dropped Ally off at Drama where she is auditioning for Alice In Wonderland. The Springboks played the All Blacks in Bloemfontein.

It was a great match for the local team who have a poor overall record against the New Zealand team. Ruan Pienaar missed three penalties and the game was a very close call. But in the end we scored two tries to their one and converted enough penalties (Morne Steyn again) to set us up for a win. It was a great match for us to win and we were deserved victors.

PETER WHATLEY
.This is an email from Peter Whatley who is an Achillean who has recently moved to Doha for work:

Doha Diaries – 16 July 2009

A massive dust storm has hit the Middle East over the past few days. It originated up in Iraq. The storm was so large that warnings were issued for people to stay indoors when it arrived. To put this in perspective, it was estimated that there was 2 billion tons of dust being kicked up by the storm. The mind really boggles. When you get a really bad one, it can strip the paint off a vehicle.

Fortunately when it arrived, it wasn’t as bad as had been predicted. Visibility was reduced to about 2km which was not too bad. In a bad one, visibility can be virtually zero.

I’m still driving a pool car, but have now seriously entered the car market, not only looking for myself but also for Lise. I think that I have decided on my vehicle with the choice being between the Nissan Xterra and a Pajero. In all likelihood it is going to be the Xterra. As regards Lise, the choice is a lot wider. She will have to decide but at this stage it will probably be between the Suzuki SX4, Nissan Qashqai, Honda CRV , Rav4 or Hyundai Tucson. For what you get, the Honda and Toyota are very expensive, with the Hyundai and Suzuki being the best value.

I am now settling into work but the working hours are taking a lot of getting used to. Normal hours are 7h30 to 15h30. In summer, 7h30 to 14h30 and during Ramadan, 7h30 to 13h30. As with most expats, we still end up working longer hours.

The pace of life over here is very different and the phrase “more is nog ‘n dag” is most appropriate. After there being no real sense of urgency, all of a sudden, everything needs to be done by tomorrow morning. Even for someone like me who tends to put things off until they are needed, this is quite frustrating.

I had dinner last night with an old work colleague from PE. It was great to have a home cooked meal that I didn’t prepare. Good meal and even better company.

Whilst one doesn’t like to harp on the bad driving and lack of courtesy on the road, two incidents from last night just reinforces this. In the first one, some poor bloke was trying to enter a row of traffic. He would never be able to break into the traffic, so when the lights changed, I let a gap open in front of me to let him in.
The lights flashing and hooting from behind is hard to describe.

The second incident occurred right in front of me while I was on my way home. A vehicle was driving on the wrong side of the road, towards the car directly in front of me. Neither driver was prepared to slow down. The driver on the wrong side of the road could not get into the correct lane as the vehicles in that lane were not prepared to let him in. All that happened was an enormous amount of hooting, a near head on collision and the air around me turning rather blue as I vented my frustration, irritation and aggravation at the arrogance of all the participants in this incident.

It is now only two weeks and Lise, Justin and Nicole arrive. I am counting down the days.

I had to order some books for Justin as he has some summer reading to do before he goes to school. He writes exams on them during the 2nd week of September. The books are not available in Doha or SA so Amazon here we come. The books cost R1200 and the delivery charges were R600. At least two of the books will be used at university.

Between now and the start of the school year which for him is 26 August, Justin has to read 9 books. 6 are English literature and 3 are related to Mathematics. I suppose that’s what comes from going to a specialist school.

Nicole is also not getting off too easily. I need to make sure that her mathematics is up to scratch so we will be working through the Year 8 mathematics textbook with her to determine whether or not there are any gaps in her education. Lise and I expect that she will need to do about two hours a day for three weeks. So much for her being on holiday.

In an attempt to keep the Sheikh-i-bellie under control, I’m exercising 4 days a week. Only time will tell whether it’s working.

With me having acquired my medicine (Alcohol) license, I can now stock up my apartment. The only snag with the license is that you are only allowed to transport your purchase between the bottle store and your house, so you cannot take drinks with you when you visit friends. If you have people over, you supply all drinks and this is reciprocated when you visit. The trick is to know what all your guests drink. I must say, I was a little disappointed at the selection of SA wines available.

This weekend I’ll be introducing one of my English colleagues to “Springbokkies”. It will be interesting to see his reaction as he is quite discerning about what he pours down his throat. Like me, he is waiting for his family to arrive in Doha. His son will be at the same school and in the same year as Nicole, so she will at least know someone on her first day.

Justin already knows a few people in Doha and will be introduced to friends of his contacts when he arrives. His transition should be quite seamless. Lise has had a taste of the Souq’s already and I’m quite certain that she will spend hours exploring them.

On the work front, there seem to be many positions available for librarians so once Lise decides it’s time to start working, I don’t envisage her having a problem finding employment.

I am currently in a temporary office but a little later this year will be moving to an international award winning tower block called the “Tornado Tower”. I have to admit that the building is quite impressive, especially at night. We were going to go into the Marriott Towers but due to ongoing construction delays, we cancelled our agreement. Besides, we have just become part owners of the Tornado Tower.

With me not feeling totally comfortable on the 22nd for of my apartment block, I’m not certain what it will be like if we end up on one of the upper floors of the tower block. It goes up 52 floors. If you do a Google search, you will be able to see what the office block looks like.

In many ways, Doha is first world with a number of world class facilities, but in other ways, there a plenty of 3rd world characteristics. Education could be part of it. The Qatari’s are a Bedouin people and the discover y of natural gas and the corresponding development has only take place during the past 60 years.

There is an incredible amount of wealth here but it only in its 2nd generation so the people are not particularly sophisticated when it comes to business. In fact, locals do not really need to work. The government pays each male Qatari the equivalent of R1 200 000 per year for merely existing and when he gets married, land and accommodation is supplied free of charge.

As a result of the locals not needing to work, the work ethic amongst them is generally quite poor, but how does one break this cycle?

Next weekend I’m off to find the local Catholic Church. There is a congregation of 80-100 thousand. The church is massive and seats 7500 people. There are 4 priests and they hold 6-7 masses a day in different languages. I’m told that it is located well out of town, somewhere in the desert so I will be going with one of the congregation.

It sounds as if you are all having a cold winter, but remember this, when you are cold, you can always put something on, but when you are hot, there is only so much you can remove.

Got to do some work.
Regards
Peter Whatley
16.07.2009.

Sunday morning 26.07.2009.
This morning after church Michael and his family joined us for Breakfast at the Pink Fig which is this outdoor childrens playground / cafe near to the Riding area of PE. Seems very successful and Barbara spoke about her dream to open something similar "when" we move to CT after Ally Matriculates and I finish with JDG.

I had eaten so much that I had to have some excersize. I drove down to Summerstrand where Ron and I did about an hour of cycling around Summerstrand suburbs and the University. I am so pleased to be back on the bike even though I am so slow. Ally was doing a Drama.

Barbara and I watched her in the South African version of Pandora's Box. It had been set up by a group of Canadians who had come to SA for this reason. We thoroughly enjoyed the production. It had been a huge amount of fun for this group of young people. I think that Ally was quite sad to say goodbye to them.

ADRIENNE WILSON
Here is a letter from Adrienne in Rome:
Well my emails have been few and far between, and I do apologise. The business centre here is in the main foyer of the hotel. I have to go to reception to get a password for the day and then I can go onto the computer. If I take longer than 15 minutes to write a letter the computer loggs off and I loose everything. I found this out the other day after typing a huge letter to everyone. I wanted to take the computer and throw it out of the window.

The diving finally finished on Saturday with the men's 10m synchro. This has been a very different time judging world champs. Being a deck official as well, I am put to task and have to sweet talk my way through a competition with a VIP. Give me judging any day, especially in the heat we experienced. I also had to miss a day of competition because I was the deligate at the Fina Congress with Jace Naidoo (president of Swim South Africa). The congress happens every 4 years where new committees are formed, along with new rules etc.

I attended the Diving congress before our competition started - I am pleased to say diving was quick and easy with not too many rule changes or new dives to add to the list.

The judging side, well we still have our observers watching us judge the diving. We are given a computer print out immediately after the competition that tells us how many dives we are exclusively high or low, equaled high or low and our panel agreement, plus our percentage out of 100. Our observers then give us our exact results at the end of the 10 days. If you don't get 95% and over you do not get to judge finals. I did 3 finals, missed one with a 92% and the others I was on duty.
To get to the final we have to go through prelims (anything up to 55 divers), semi finals (top 18) and finals top 12.

I was thrilled when I was not on the panel for the mens 3m springboard, and tried to video the final. I tried to get a good place to video, but soon gave up because of the heat and found a little corner on the steps where the divers walk past after their dives. This was far more entertaining to watch the TV cameras follow them, my eyes were on their tiny little costumes. I am amazed they still have them on when they come out of the water.

Although most of the judges are new and a bit inexperienced we are having a good time. This bunch seem to want to party. We have a balcony on the 5th floor of our hotel that overlooks Rome where we all meet for drinks at night. For supper everyone goes out to the local side cafe's. My german room mate Monica, and I go to a little supermarket where we buy a salad, a bottle of wine, cheese and biscuits, take it to the roof and have a quiet supper before the others get there. We do this because at supper the bill is split by 18 of us, and most of the time we do not have steak and loads of beer like everyone else.

I originally was going to share with Hannah from Prague, but ended up with Monica. Well I could not have a better roomie. She is an English lecturer in Germany and a comentator on TV for diving. She is only 2 years younger than me, loves to go to bed early like me, and we find we have the same likes and dislikes. We have laughed so much in the room. The only thing I cannot get used to is how she walks around the room in the nude before and after her bath, plus she just sleeps in little panties. I think it must be a continental thing, because you should see all the lady judges showering after competitions. Does it sound as though I becoming an old lady!!!!!

The one night we were on the balcony we each had to sing something from back home. I tried to do a zulu dance to izga zimba. I don't know if it was my lousy singing voice or my body movements but everyone laughed so much that they made me repeat it the following day to our fina technical chaps. (I wonder what the observers gave me for the performance).

Every free minute we have we get taken to the sights of Rome. We have all had 2 free days during competition. I chose to go to the Vatican city, St Peter's Basilica and to the Trevi fountain. Today we did the Colosseum before our judges meeting. Last week Monica and I did a full day of a lot of the churches in Rome. Each one unique in its own special way. Not many of the judges wanted to do this, so unfortunately we did not have a guide.

We did however manage to buy ear phones at the entrance of each church which explained the history. Our favourite was Sana Maria. It is the most ancient and greatest among the Basilicas dedicated to the Virgin Mary. One has to dress appropriately before entering the churches and shorts, miniskirts or bare shoulders are not allowed.

I have taken so many photos of the inside of these churches and will send them to you once I am home. Another day I visited the Wax Museum and Palatino. The Palatino is a ruin with beautiful views showing the Palatine hill where Romulus killed his brother Remus and founded Rome.

There is just not enough time to explore and the heat does get to us, but to have guides on all our tours is a major advantage.

Last Wednesday night we had dinner and then a tour of Rome by night. We stopped at the Trevi fountain, for half an hour where we could wander through the streets and have an ice cream. I just could not believe that at 11.00 at night the streets were just jam packed with tourists. I wonder if Rome ever sleeps.

Our first day is finished, and tonight we will go to the swimming. On Saturday I saw the finals of the synchro swimming group finals. I could not believe what these 8 girls did in unison. Waterpolo I have not seen at all because it clashes with the diving but I hope to get to one of the matches tonight. The village here is huge with lots of different places to eat.

Every night they have a live band playing. Our shuttle bus runs from the pool on the hour every hour so it is easy to get back to our hotel. I have walked back to the hotel - it took me 40 minutes and it was uphill all the way. I have managed to get in a few runs early in the morning before traffic gets bad. It is a good way to see Rome. One of my runs goes uphill (like Brickmakers) but three times the distance, and at the top there is a look out point showing the beauty of Rome.

We saw video footage of all the dives where we were 2 points or more out of range from the rest of the panel. I did a 2 when the other judges gave 4, and I am pleased to say I was correct (what a good feeling that was), it was on a synchro dive where a ukrane girl hit the board and then bent her legs, and finally bombed into the water.

Our technical committee always advise us to use our full range of marks, but when we do, they complain that it is not good for TV. My set of results are great, but once again I mark the divers too high on highboard and only got an 89%. That means I was 6 dives higher than my panel on 60 dives and only by half a point most of the time, and when I see the video replay I still think I am right.

This afternoon after this email, I have to do some swotting because we sit our exams tomorrow morning. I look forward to the trick questions but hate to calculating the degree of difficulty of new dives. They give us a number 5271 and ask us what dive it is and what will the degree be. We know 5 is the twist group, 2 is backwards 7 is the number of sommersaults and 1 is the amount of twist that will be done.

The kids are back home, so Peter is very happy, someone to cook supper for him!!!!! Jen has phoned me since they left, and said it was great having them. I think they were spoilt rotten. I know Matthew received an early birthday and christmas present - golf clubs. They played a lot of golf here and Matt just loved it. Dani received her birthday present and Christmas present as well - guess what clothes.

Well I think this is enough to bore you with, I do understand if you don't get to read all of it and delete most of the email. Looking forward to getting back on Saturday. I hope this email finds you all fit and well. Sending lots of love from Rome xxx Adrienne


Last week of July 2009:
I have been home most of this week with just Monday in EL for a meeting. I am trying to keep up with the morning runs but am in huge pain in my left calf. And the Knee. Whoa- sounds like I am a real old crock. Which I suppose that I am. Stragely enough as I am running I have hardly any pain. It is only after sitting in the office or at home for some time that I have this pain.

Thursday 30th: Lene Birthday.
They were here for supper and bridge. Bought a new scanner / printer today. But am not able to get it to operate. Spent hours on the phone with the HP help desk but to no avail.



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